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Commuters heading back to work after Christmas will have had to deal with more than the cold weather with rail fares going up yet again on 2nd January. Since the General Election, fares have risen significantly with the cost of a season ticket between Three Bridges and London going up by a whopping 24%. At
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As we enter the New Year it’s worth taking a look at what will be coming up over the next twelve months. If 2014 was a year of new beginnings at the council—with a new administration taking control—2015 may well be a year of conclusions, with a number of looming events, decisions and projects coming
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As people tuck into the turkey and unwrap another ‘interesting’ jumper from Granny, I’m sure it’s only the most hardened consumers of local news who will make it through to the political columns and well done to you. Over recent weeks I’ve attended a number of carol concerts and while I tried to avoid singing
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The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement this month involved a good deal of backslapping by the Government while shying away from the key point: that despite the pain of the cuts, by taking decisions which have suppressed economic growth George Osborne has failed to meet even his own deficit targets. In practice that means austerity is going
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For economic growth to mean anything it has to mean an improvement in the living standards of ordinary men and women not just the few at the top, and that’s where the UK has run into problems. In Crawley the situation is particularly bad. Thankfully unemployment hasn’t hit us as badly as in many places
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Remembrance Day this year has of course carried a particular poignancy with it being the centenary of the start of the First World War and the millions who perished in that conflict, whatever their nationality. Remembrance is important, not only because such a loss of life should not go unmarked but also, as is often
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For decades governments have failed to tackle the UK’s housing shortage. While longer life spans, reductions household sizes and employment shifts have resulted in increasing demand for housing, housebuilding is at its lowest level since the 1920s. It was against this background that Whitehall decided to grant automatic planning permission for buildings designated for employment-use
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Last Thursday a number of by-elections took place across the county, including one in Crawley. While eyes were focused on contests further north, locally Labour won Southgate with a 9% swing to the party since winning the ward back in May. I’m very grateful to residents for supporting the new Labour administration and I know
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Party conference season concludes this week with Liberal Democrat Conference. Last week saw Conservative Conference open Ukip defections and conclude with billions of pounds of unfunded commitments. Contrast that with Labour Conference the week before, where the party bent over backwards to show how any additional spending can be paid for, including the flagship Time
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The NHS is facing challenging times. While the organisation hasn’t endured the scale of cuts other parts of the public sector have had to go through, four years of budget freezes during a period of high inflation have had an impact and that’s before considering where the real strain on NHS resources lies. The UK’s
Peter Lamb for Crawley 